The Clone’s Mate by Susan Trombley

Twelve

I have never been so happy to see my own panties in my life! At least my captors had cleaned them. They must have stored them at some point after I was abducted. It was just too bad they were granny panties, but I planned on wearing my paint-stained sweats and shirt into Subject 34’s enclosure to cover them anyway.

I promised myself I wouldn’t take them off because it was good to be dressed again. If a little binding now, after being naked for so long.

I hadn’t been lying to Nirgal when I said 34 put out some serious sex vibes that were difficult to resist. Impossible, in fact. But maybe, with clothing on, there would be a delay that allowed my logical brain to regain control of my body before I threw myself at 34’s feet and begged him to take me.

I also had to remember not to touch him in the heat of the moment. I reminded myself of that repeatedly as I followed my mechanical escorts to his enclosure vault after donning my clothing. I was thinking that maybe I should have wrapped my lady bits in duct tape, given the impact Subject 34 had on my libido the previous times I’d been around him.

Apparently, all I had to do was successfully communicate with an insectoid creature that could sting me to death in a second and made me want to crawl on my hands and knees and beg him for his dick.

Yeah, that should be a cake walk.

This time, I felt more sanguine as I waited in the anteroom between the outer door and the inner door for everything to be all locked up nice and tight. Don’t get me wrong, I was still scared, but now that I knew a little more about what was happening to me, I could get a tighter grip on that fear.

Plus, I had clothes! Yay!

When I stepped out onto the sand of Subject 34’s enclosure this time, I didn’t get very far into the dimly illuminated habitat before he found me. He appeared seemingly out of nowhere and snatched me up so fast I made the mistake of struggling. Naturally, he stung me, the sharp tip of his stinger piercing my sweats to stab into my thigh.

“That’s rude!” I snapped, then sighed contentedly as a nice, calm feeling settled over me.

Without any attempt at comment, he carried me towards his crevice, cradled in his second set of arms.

When we reached his lair, he grew agitated, making furious chittering sounds. He set me down on the sand, and I smiled as I leaned back against one of the stones circling the space in front of the crevice. I watched him slam angry fists into the barrier that blocked off his crevice.

I felt really good. Not necessarily sexual, at the moment, though I could totally go for that, but just relaxed. Mellow. Passive.

Definitely drugged.

He should stop doing that, I thought affectionately as he raged at the barrier keeping him from pulling me into his crevice. The thought was directed towards him always stinging me, but I also figured he was wasting his time trying to get back into his hole.

Our overlords had apparently decided they didn’t want him hiding me away this time. They wanted to watch how he reacted to me, and I suspected that it would be much harder to do that from within that dark crevice, though I didn’t doubt they had cameras in there somewhere secretly recording Subject 34’s every move.

I should get on that whole communicating thing. Given that I felt pretty chill at the moment, I didn’t see the big hurry. It was fun to watch Subject 34 move—inhumanly rapid and erratic as his motions were.

Not to mention violent. He was really clawing at that barrier. I wondered if he might actually succeed in getting it open at some point. It was difficult to concern myself as I lolled in the sand, feeling more relaxed than I ever have been before.

“Hey, 34,” I said with a slur, patting the sand next to me. “Give it up and come over here. Cop a squat. I’m s’posed to chat wif you.” I shook my head from side to side as 34 turned to face me, his pincers still extended and wings still flicking in agitation. “Wifth,” I repeated, trying to enunciate that word that definitely came out wrong. “Wiffth.”

I leaned my head back against the rock. “You know s’wat I mean.”

I tried to point to myself and ended up poking myself in the chest, then my hand flopped onto my belly as I slumped further down against the stone.

“Chilllll, duuuude,” I drawled, slapping my hand down to the sand again. “Sit.” I giggled and patted the sand a few more times, then I petted it, enjoying the slide of the soft grains against my palm.

I was staring at sand pouring out from between my fingers after grabbing up a handful when Subject 34 seemed to appear right in front of me, startling me enough to snap me out of it, but only briefly.

I grinned up at him, blinking eyes that had grown accustomed now to the dim lighting of his enclosure. “Heeeey, you! How you been?” I pouted. “Missed you. Mean old Nirgie, keeping me ‘way from you.”

Subject 34 slowly knelt in front of me, cocking his head as if curious at my behavior, which was strange since it was his fault I was drugged to the teeth.

Being in that state meant caution completely went out the door. I patted the shoulder of his upper arm companionably as he sank into a full crouch right in front of me.

“Those guys are jerks. We know the deal.” I nodded, feeling conspiratorial towards my fellow captive.

He tilted his head downwards as if studying my hand on his hard chitin. Fortunately, this touch didn’t inspire him to sting me again.

“Whatcha been up to?” My head felt heavy as I rocked it towards him to get a better look at him. “Because I been having a blast these last few weeks.”

I giggled again—a sound I hadn’t made since I was in my teens. “I met a guy.” This time I snickered. “Apparently, he’s psychotic, which is sadly an upgrade from my usual dates. Last guy I agreed to go on a date with abducted me from Earth.”

Subject 34 touched my lips with the claws of one of his lower hands. I kissed his claws, inhaling his scent. Even in my relaxed state, I felt the warmth of arousal increasing at his proximity.

He traced my lips with one claw, chittering softly. Then he bumped his mandibles against them. I kissed them too. Beneath my lips, they separated. Then his actual lips pressed against mine.

I lifted one languid hand, palm sprinkled with sand grains, to touch his cheek.

He stung me.

This time, I barely felt the sting, but I did feel the sudden shot of energy and the immediate desire that had me wanting to pull all my hard-won clothes off again and splay myself out on the sand for him.

I shook my head, my lassitude and calm disappearing.

“Nope, not this time!” I turned my head when he tried to kiss me again. “I can resist!”

34 lifted his head, staring down at me through black eyes that were now revealed as the top of his facial chitin had split along with his mandibles. Those two lines I’d tried to smooth out earlier between his brows had returned, but I was a bit more aware of my position this time and resisted the urge to touch him again.

“I’m not going to let you keep drugging me, 34,” I said in the severest tone I could manage, though my body ached now with the desire to strip and lay my body willingly beneath him. “You can’t keep doing that stinging thing anytime you want something from me!”

To my relief, he didn’t force the issue, though he wouldn’t have had to push me very hard to get me to cave in this state. Instead, he seemed genuinely curious about my words, again cocking his head, his frown lines deepening as his lips pulled into a slight scowl. He studied my face, then lifted a lower hand to trace my eyebrows. Then he touched the same area between my brows where I had touched him.

His touch felt so good, even that tiny brush of a sharp claw tip against my skin had me all hot and bothered. To be fair, it was really whatever venom he’d pumped into me that put me in that state, but him touching me, and being so near to me with his huge, powerful body and bizarrely handsome face did not help cool me down.

I had enough sense to realize that if I kept talking, he might actually listen instead of getting sexual. It seemed like he was genuinely curious about my speech, perhaps even my expressions. Of course, it would be far more flattering if he wanted to get me on my back as soon as possible, but I got the idea that he was patient.

I also got the uncomfortable idea that the aphrodisiac venom itself was simply a result of more curiosity from him, rather than a genuine desire for me personally. It made me feel like I was as much of an experiment to him as he was to Nirgal and his ilk.

Still, something about me must have intrigued him enough for him to spare my life when he’d killed every other person he’d been given to hunt. I had to hold onto that and work out exactly what it was that he saw in me that made him so curious—so I could exploit the hell out of it.

If I could turn Subject 34 on his handlers, it would be a glorious bloodbath that I would revel in.

In theory.

I don’t know how well I’d actually handle a bloodbath. Seemed a bit… gory. I wasn’t much of a horror movie fan, though I loved me a good ghost story. I had a feeling my soft-hearted ass would end up feeling bad for his victims, even if they deserved everything they got.

I talk a good game, but I’m a total sucker.

While I pondered how I could turn 34 to my side, he continued to touch my face, exploring it with the concentration I might put into a painting. Every time one of my facial muscles moved to form an expression, it seemed to catch his eye and he’d trace that part of my face.

Then he’d touch his own face with his other lower hand. At the same time, his upper hands began to feel my hair, which was unfortunately very tangled after being hosed down every day for a few weeks with nary a comb in sight. Fingers just didn’t do the job properly.

I felt bad for Subject 34 as I watched him draw his claws down his own face as if it were new to him and he was exploring it with as much curiosity as my own.

“It’s a nice face,” I said in reassurance, just in case he’d never actually seen his reflection. It didn’t look like there were many mirrors lying around—or even still pools of water.

Not that he could understand me, but I figured it was worth a shot.

His wings flicked behind him when I spoke, and his claws returned to tracing my lips. His throat worked, a few chitters escaping him. Then his lips moved as if he struggled to shape words.

“Nnn-ice,” he growled, his voice raspy and deep. “Nnn-ice faaay.”

He touched his face, right below his cheek, drawing his claw over his cheek to then touch his chitinous mandibles tucked against the sides of his head. Then he traced the long scars on either side of his nose. His lips worked again.

Then the bisection of them split apart, and I realized with a gasp of horror that broke through the lust I still couldn’t help feeling despite my determined self-control that his face wasn’t exactly what it seemed.

His “mouth” split straight in half from below the nose to the chin, and those long scars were actually some kind of joining point that allowed the two sides of his face to spread wide open to display a true mouth hidden behind the mock mouth that had all the same elements as a human mouth.

Within his throat, now bared by that split lower face, two clawed appendages emerged from strange sheaths where a human’s tonsils might be. Only these had much larger holes to fit the appendages.

“Holy shit!” I held up both hands in front of me, though I didn’t dare to touch him. “What is that? What the heck!”

Within seconds, his face had pulled back together into the more human one, hiding all that scary horror monster crap behind a deceptively handsome façade. He blinked at me with those dark eyes, then lifted his claws to trace the lines bisecting his lips.

“Nnn-ice faaay.”

“Uh… sure.” I nodded reflexively, because you don’t insult a giant bug man who just showed you his clawed throat appendages.

Seemed like a bad idea.

On the plus side, my arousal was fading, venom notwithstanding, so I didn’t feel the same need to clamber all over his chitin covered body and impale myself on an erection he wasn’t sporting at the moment anyway.

“I see you can speak,” I said in a shaky voice that was a little too squeaky. “That’s good. I mean, I don’t know if you understand me, but—”

His claws cut me off and his mouth worked again, his lips moving several times without any sound coming out. He chittered in his throat, making me think of those scary clawed thingies that hid inside there.

“Sss-peeak,” he said after several attempts at making the sounds. “Unnnder-ssstand.”

Now it was my turn to be curious. “I’m speaking English. You really understand me?”

Maybe he was only repeating what I said, like a parrot. Yet, I had a feeling he wasn’t.

Did they seriously create something as dangerous as Subject 34 and then make it possible for him to learn this fast?

Of course, maybe he had a translator in his head like the one they’d put into mine.

Yeah, that was probably the case. Still, Nirgal had said Subject 34 never communicated, so I had to wonder why he’d decided to do so now.

He didn’t answer my question, instead stroking my lips again, his upper hands tugging on my hair. When I winced as his claws got entangled, he paused. He blinked at me with that curious, coldly predatory gaze, then traced the muscles around my mouth.

I watched his face, noting the way his own muscles moved, scrunching up as if he weren’t sure how they worked. His other lower hand touched his own face as he traced mine.

He was trying to learn how to make facial expressions. That much was clear. No doubt he’d noted the structure of his face, and I was willing to bet dollars to donuts—man, I missed donuts—that he wasn’t born with that eerily attractive face. His false facial features had the look of the Nirgal aliens. Jawline too perfect, eyes slightly larger than human but nicely shaped, brows with perfect arches, straight nose and symmetrical high cheekbones. Not to mention those lovely lips even with the bisections, sexily plump, though not large.

His skin was a golden shade that wasn’t human and had a similar iridescence to his chitin. All in all, the perfection of his face looked like a mask I now knew it to be.

“For the promotional material,” Nirgal had said. They’d made Subject 34 look handsome to sell his existence to someone, it seemed. Clearly, his true form had not appealed to the beauty-obsessed aliens.

Great! Now I felt sad for him again. Even knowing what lay behind that eerie mask of his, I still felt empathy for the creature. Not only was he being controlled by the aliens, but he’d been fundamentally altered in a way that he was even now trying to adapt to. Maybe it was this alteration that made him so curious about me. Perhaps he’d only just discovered the contours of his face and wanted to study mine.

That didn’t explain the whole sex thing when we’d first met though. If he weren’t imprinted, I could only guess at why he’d decided to inject me with sex venom and do the deed. He hadn’t really been studying my face then.

Or had he? Looking back, I realized I had no idea. This face of his had been hidden behind the hard chitinous outer shells of his protective goggle eyes and mandibles.

I let his hands explore me without protest because he didn’t push my boundaries yet, which at this point had grown much smaller given the apparent wearing off of the aphrodisiac venom. Either the injection he’d given me had been much smaller than before, or I’d gained some immunity to it—or it didn’t have as strong an effect if he wasn’t doing something about my need.

I sure wished I could ask. I supposed I could, and maybe he’d even understand my question, but I wasn’t certain he was capable of answering yet.

Nor was I certain he would. I had no illusions that I was in control here. He didn’t behave like a regular person, despite his obvious intelligence. His actions seemed ruthless in the extreme—those of a cold predator who didn’t consider his prey’s feelings. He stung me without hesitation when I did anything he saw as a threat or an attempt to struggle.

I didn’t sense any malice in his actions, but then again, I don’t think most predators bear any malice towards their prey. That doesn’t stop them from killing them, often brutally.

For the moment, 34 seemed more interested in inspecting me than eating me. As my emotions apparently played over my expression as I pondered the bizarre situation I was in, he continued to try to mimic them.

I missed that first dose of venom—the chill juice. I felt a lot calmer then than I did now, even if I had struggled to speak properly.

“So,” I said after a long period had passed where he groped my face and his own and tugged painfully on my tangled mat of hair while touching the chitin on his own head, “this is a bit… weird. Can’t say this is the strangest social interaction I’ve ever had, but it’s definitely top ten, at least. Probably top five, to be honest.”

He cocked his head, his gaze shifting to my lips, then lifting to meet my eyes. When he reached towards my eye with the claws that had been trailing along my jawline, I jerked backwards, cracking my skull on the rock at my back with a loud thud that left me wincing.

He made a chittering sound that had my clenched eyelids peeking open, my lips still pulled back in a grimace as I lifted a hand to rub the back of my head.

“No touching my eyeballs, k buddy.” I tapped one finger well below my eye. “They’re squishy and delicate. You start poking at them, you’ll leave me blind.”

The hand messing with my hair slid towards the bump that was now forming on my head. His fingers probed that tender part of my scalp, eliciting a pained moan from me that had him chittering softly in response.

“Yeah, that hurts a little, so be gentle, k.”

“K-aaaayy.” He stroked hard fingers over my head bump. “K-aaaayy buuud tee.”

I didn’t think he was answering me with a friendly response. In fact, crazy as it was, I thought I detected frustration in his growling, raspy tone as he struggled to form the words through lips he clearly didn’t like using. I suspected those words didn’t translate and that was why he repeated them. Perhaps he couldn’t draw their meaning from context. Given his alien nature, that wasn’t in the least bit surprising.

“I’ll be honest,” I said in a higher pitched tone than normal, “you’re kind of hurting my head right now.”

I probably should have allowed him to continue to probe that tender spot to his heart’s content, because he suddenly caught me by the back of my neck with one lower hand and pulled me forward, his upper hands pushing my hair away from the swelling lump.

I felt his mandibles rub against the tender skin as I warned myself not to struggle, my face pressed against the hard chitin of his upper arm. Despite my determination not to piss him off with any movement, he still ended up stinging me. I felt the brief, sharp pierce of his stinger into my swollen scalp.

I cried out in terror, finally struggling for my life, but he held me in place with seemingly no effort at all, completely unfazed by my flailing arms and frightened screams.

I don’t know how long it took for me to calm down and realize I wasn’t dying in agony from his venom, but when he probed my scalp again with his fingers, I didn’t feel any of the discomfort I’d felt from the bump before.

In fact, it felt nice and numb with not a hint of pain. Just in that one area, the scalp surrounding the bump as sensitive as ever to the scrape of his claws through my hair.

It was only after a thorough inspection of my scalp that Subject 34 finally released me, allowing me to lean back against the rock, staring up at him as he slowly rose from his crouch.

“Y-you did that to make me more comfortable,” I said with surprise in my tone. “Why?”

He cocked his head to one side, his face now covered again behind his chitinous mask. He made a chittering sound but didn’t attempt to speak my language again.

I watched him turn his back on me with mouth agape, wondering where he planned to go as he spread his wings and leapt into the air.